


It’s Cold Outside (The Group)

by Belkatya



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, OOC, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-01 15:03:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13297383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belkatya/pseuds/Belkatya
Summary: So Fat Amy told her dad that he could only hurt Jessica and Ashley. Ashley has a problem with that.OrAshley finds her voice.





	1. Bumpy Landing

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve always felt that Jessica and Ashley deserve so much more in the franchise. It annoyed me that nothing was made of them being sacrificed on the boat, so I started writing this. Featuring slightly OOC Ashley in that she starts standing up for herself. Also, Amy is a bit mean, but she was all through PP3 so..?

Ashley is silent on the plane. Her trusty blue neck pillow provides the perfect excuse to stare blankly out of the window for nine hours and ignore the blonde to her right - excepting the brief moments in which an air hostess hands her a plastic tray of plastic food.

Sometimes she wonders whether anyone would notice if she faded away right then and there. She doubts it. 

  _“Which two of you are Ashley and Jessica?”_ Fat Amy’s dad had said, reclining on that chair with the leering expression of a cat who had got the cream. It had been clear that the Aussie girl had selected them to be sacrificed, and Ashley can’t say she was surprised. 

Even though she and Jess have literally been around this Bella era the whole time, the whole fucking seven years, they are still treated like nothing: the ones left on the margins of the group huddles, the ones relegated to minibus driver or bag carrier. Left outside in the cold.

She had thought that Jess was her partner in that, her companion on the fringes of the Barden Bellas... but even her best friend, her _girl_ friend, had immediately pointed to her following Fergus’ statement. 

  _“Well, ladies, you’ll be the first to suffer as a result of my daughter letting me down. She chose you for that honour - just so you know.”_

Beca and Amy had come for them, yes, but who had checked on them after their rescue? Even the soldiers at the base had been more worried than their friends, checking that they were ok as Jess huddled close to her under their shared blanket.

 

 The plane lands and Ashley disembarks, stumbling through passport control and baggage claim. Amy bounces her out of the way to grab her suitcase, ignoring Lilly - Esther? - who has climbed into an empty case and is treating the conveyor belt as a merry-go-round. It all washes over Ashley, who picks up her luggage and follows Emily and Cynthia-Rose towards the exit. She doesn’t even care that her neck pillow is still curled around her shoulders.

 “Ash, wait!”

Jessica hurries to join her at her side, linking her slender arm through hers. 

 “What’s up?” she asks softly. 

 “Nothing,” Ashley replies sullenly. Lilly rushes past them, suitcase in hand, followed by a stern looking official. 

 “Are you thinking about how crazy insane this entire trip has been?” Jess asks, a small smile playing around her pink-glossed lips. “We toured Southern Europe, met DJ Khaled, and somehow ended up in a hostage situation -“

 “Yeah, insane.”

 

 They have reached the foyer now, that thin strip of waiting room between customs and car park. Everything is so clinical and cloying. 

 “Hey,” Jess says sharply, her angelic voice piercing through that haze. “Talk to me. I know you’re tired, but -“

 “Yes, I am tired,” Ashley retorts. “I’m tired of giving so much to people who don’t give back.”

 “Wow, ok,” frowns the blonde. “So we’re getting right into it, huh.”

 “Oh, I’m sorry,” Ashley spits bitterly. “Should I just be happy to be alive and brush over the fact that all of my so-called friends nominated me to die first without any hesitation whatsoever? The same friends that don’t even know my name after seven years of contributing to the Bellas? I don’t know how many times I’ve had to put a drunken, crying Chloe to bed, or bring Beca a coffee when she’s passed out next to her turntables at 3am, or top up Cynthia-Rose’s hot water bottle every fifth week, and they don’t even know my fucking name! They didn’t care if I died, Jess!”

Jessica’s slate-coloured eyes fill with tears. 

 “Emily would care,” she whispers as they near the sliding doors to the taxi rank. She means that Emily would lose her dancing partner in the back row. “I would care.”

Ashley’s heart seems to clench at that statement. She wants it so much to be true, but then -

 “You pointed at me too,” she mutters back, gaze falling to the speckled linoleum floor. She can hear the collective clicking of the Bellas’ heels leading their way. “One hint of a solo during the tour and I take a backseat for you as well.”

Jess squeezes her arm. “You never take a back seat for me,” she tells her firmly, kissing her cheek. “You’re my ride or die, my shotgun for life. I panicked on board that yacht, and I’m sorry.”

Ashley manages a smile at that. “Thanks, doll.”

 

 She tugs her case behind her as they emerge into the sunny Hartsfield-Jackson forecourt. The rest of the girls are fighting over the taxi places.

 “Ok, ok!” Fat Amy yells over the noise. “Taxi number one will contain me, obviously, with Beca, Chloe, and Aubrey. Taxi number two will contain Cynthia-Rose, Lily, Legacy and Flo.”

Ashley and Jessica come to a stumbling halt. The rolling sound of their suitcase wheels on the tarmac suddenly seems very loud. 

 “We’ll just get our own, then,” Jessica mumbles, but no-one takes any notice. They are all too busy playing suitcase tetris in their respective taxis.

Ashley sighs. Jessica is so wanting to prove herself, always has been. She won’t hear a bad word against the others. But Ashley has had it.

 “We’ll just get the next one then,” she calls again, louder than Jessica. “We’ll be fine, won’t we Jess? And maybe Amy’s dad will kill us in the meantime, maybe he won’t. You guys go.”

The other girls look up in surprise.

 “I genuinely forgot you were here,” Amy says, her mouth pursed to indicate an awkward situation. Their taxi sits empty, its other passengers still fighting about whose suitcase needs to be most carefully packed in the back.

Ashley marches over, shoves her own case in the car, and gets in the passenger seat beside the driver.

 “Tuscany Court, Midtown,” she tells the driver curtly. 

Jess gets in the back seat with the cases. 

 “Ash, what -“

 “I’m fed up of being left in the cold,” Ashley tells her as the taxi pulls away.

 

 Their apartment is a sanctuary. It is unchanged from when they left, its white walls and colourful furnishings a welcome refreshment. Ashley dumps her suitcase in the middle of the room and throws the window wide. Then she sits down on their leather couch, puts her head in her trembling hands, and cries.

 “Oh, Ash,” Jessica sighs, sitting down beside her and wrapping her arms around her. “It’s ok, hon.”

 “‘It’s ok’? How are you not freaking out right now?” Ashley demands through her tears. “We got taken _hostage_ and _nearly murdered_!”

 “I’m not ok!” Jessica snaps. “And I’m not happy about it either.”

  _“It doesn’t seem like your friends will mourn you,”_ Fergus had said, his grin growing wider and wider. _“They couldn’t wait to give you up!”_

Ashley slumps into the blonde, who kisses the top of her head. 

 “I guess that’s it now,” Ashley mutters. She tucks her feet beneath her on the couch, lying with her head in Jess’ lap. “No more Bellas. I gave seven years to them, and this is how it ends.” 

 “It doesn’t have to,” Jess replies, stroking her hair. “I’m sure we’ll meet up at some point-“

 “I don’t know,” Ashley mutters darkly. “They all seemed pretty clear on that. They’re all off not throwing up at the thought, or in vet school or whatever. If they’d bothered to ask, they’d know you’re crushing it at The Fox Theatre, and I’ve got a journalism gig at CNN. I loved performing with them, you know I did, but that last one was pretty final, Ash.”

 “I’m Jessica.”

 “And I’m Ashley.”

 “You’re Ashley.”

Ashley sniffs, wiping her tears away. “I’m going to bed,” she sighs, sitting up. She glances at her phone to see a notification that Flo has liked the group selfie she took before everything went so wrong. She tosses it onto the sofa and heads for their bedroom, too drained even to shower. 

 Later on, she feels Jess slide under the covers next to her and wrap herself around her. The blonde rests her chin on Ashley’s shoulder, snuggling close. Her breathing is ragged as though she has been crying too, and Ashley turns to hug her back. 

 “I’m sorry, doll,” she breathes. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Jess shakes her head. “I just felt the cold, was all.”


	2. Airing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley airs her feelings. The Bellas respond.

A couple of hours after that, they are roused by their doorbell. Ashley has been awake for hours, staring at the ceiling. Jess is lying in the crook of her arm, her hand tucked over the brunette’s torso, but she is the one to sigh and go to answer it. Ashley stays in their white duvet, wrapped in it as a protection against the outside world.

  “Oh, hey guys,” she hears Jessica say in surprise.

‘ _Guys’?_

  “What -“

  “Amy has something to say,” announces Emily - _Emily?_

 

  Ashley gets up and makes her way back to the main room. There, she finds Jess holding the front door open as the rest of the Bellas troop through, looking around curiously.

  “Come in, sit down,” Ashley tells them dryly, sweeping an arm around at the living room. Cynthia-Rose, Flo, and Aubrey take the sofa and Lilly folds herself down elfin-like at Flo’s feet. The remaining four stay standing. 

  “Hey,” Beca says uncomfortably. “So things got kinda real back there.”

Emily nods beside her, her earnest eyes wide above a bitten lip. 

  “What was that?” Chloe snaps. “You stole our taxi!”

  “That’s what you took from that?” Emily demands, staring at her in disbelief. Ashley simply rolls her eyes. 

  “ _That_ ,” she says savagely, “was fuelled by seven years of literally being background noise, and a recent hostage situation in which I was marked as dispensable. Forgive me for not wanting to stand alone on the airport tarmac.” 

  “Oh yeah,” Emily says quickly, pushing Fat Amy forwards. “Amy has something to say about that.”

The Australian girl steps forward reluctantly, looking at the floor.

  “So you might have noticed that I told my dad that he couldn’t hurt anyone except you and Ashley,” she tells Ashley, looking towards Jessica as she finishes her sentence. “And for that I am truly sorry. On the other hand, I did come to your rescue, so -“

  “See, you didn’t even get our names the right way round after seven years!” Ashley protests indignantly. 

Jessica, ever her shadow, slips up beside her to hold her hand. Cynthia-Rose does a double take. 

  “When did this happen?” She asks, gesturing towards them.

  “We made it official in our sophomore year,” Jess offers shyly. 

  “We just thought you were really good friends who cuddled a lot,” Amy says, looking around at the other Bellas for confirmation. They nod.

  “See this just...” Ashley trails off and puts her head in her free hand. “Seven years, and you don’t know who we are. Seven years and you don’t know our vocal roles in the group. Seven years and you’ve not realised we’re together. Seven years and you sentence us to die without a second thought. That is my issue. But mainly the last bit. Seven years and we still mean so little to you that you all pointed me out when he asked.” Ashley stifles a sob. 

  “I’ve never actually heard her say more than one sentence before,” Amy says in a stage whisper, but Ashley carries on regardless.

  “Do you know how it feels to be told that your so-called friends don’t care if you live or die? To have no-one stand up for you? Not one of you acknowledged what you did on that boat. Not one. It’s been forty eight hours and none of you have even asked me or Jess if we’re ok!” 

Amy shuffles back in line. There is a silence so thick and aca-awkward that you can cut it with a knife. Jessica squeezes Ashley’s hand.

  “Ash, don’t,” She murmurs. 

Ashley kisses her temple. “I’m just so sick of it, Jess.”

Beca steps forwards, wringing her hands. “Ok, so clearly we have some things to work out here. I mean, I’m pretty sure you’re gonna have to work some stuff out in therapy, because we’re not professional shrinks who know how to deal with PTSD, but we can make a start on some other... issues.”

She glances around the apartment, and her eyes settle on the dining table. It’s a smooth, wooden surface that Jessica found at the flea market and bribed a taxi driver to haul back for her - but it is large, and surrounded by mismatched, multicoloured chairs.

  “Let’s all sit down. Can we pull your table in here?”

Ashley lets go of Jess and throws her hands in the air. “Fine.”

 

  Together, she, Beca and Emily shift the table further into the main room. Jess, Chloe and Amy bring the four chairs in with them. 

  “I’ll get the desk chairs,” Ashley mutters, and disappears into their study to do so. When she drags them out, it reminds her of dragging her suitcase through the airport. 

She finds the remaining Bellas sitting around the table in a way that includes the four on the couch. She also notes that she and Jess have been given prime spots at the head of that table.

Huh. 

  “Can I get anybody a drink?” Jess asks, wringing her hands fretfully. “We don’t have much in other than wine and margarita mix, but -“

A chorus of ‘red!’ ‘white!’ and ‘green!’ goes up from the assembled girls, but it is Lilly and Aubrey who rise to their feet.

  “We’ll get it,” says Aubrey. “Sit down, Jessica. What do you want?”

  “White, please,” says the soprano. 

  “I’ll have a margarita please,” Ashley tells Lilly, who’s passing her just then. 

  “Sure, coming right up!”

The loudness makes Ashley jump. She isn’t used to it coming from that mouth. 

  “Thanks Lil - Esther.”

She sits down in the spare seat next to Emily, whom she considers to be a safe option. After all, it had been Legacy who led to Amy’s kind-of apology. Wait -

  “How did you guys even know where we live?”

  “You gave Aubrey your address for the tour admin,” Beca explains. 

  “Yeah, and I just used it to order pizza,” Fat Amy pitches in from next to her.

  “Ooh, pizza! Good idea,” says Chloe, and Amy’s face falls. 

  “Oh, you guys are hungry too?”

Chloe and Flo huddle together to order more food. Jess sits down beside Ashley and takes both of her hands in hers on top of the table. 

  “So,” Beca says awkwardly. “Ashley, Jessica, we owe you guys a massive apology. You’re right, you’ve been here for us for seven years, and when it came down to it, we weren’t there for you.”

  “That’s the thing,” Jess admits whilst a subdued Ashley stares at their joined hands. “We love you guys, we love being Bellas. It hurts when you say things like you don’t know why we’re even there, or when you tell your conman of a father that he can kill us - and quite literally point him our way.”

  “I feel like we keep coming back to my dad,” Amy says, eyebrows pinched. 

  “He took us _hostage_ , Amy! Nearly dying is a big deal for me.”

  “Yeah, me too,” says Cynthia-Rose, tucking her braids back behind her ears. “It might have been Flo’s eighth time but I’m not used to being kidnapped for ransom!”

  “Actually, it was my fourteenth time,” Flo interjects, having chosen four more pizzas to share. “But your experience is fine too.”

The atmosphere quickly changes, the room becoming filled with accusations.

  “Ok, ok!” Yells Beca. “Guys, this is getting us nowhere. Flo, it’s not a competition. Chloe, chill out. Emily, stop crying. Yes, Fat Amy’s dad kidnapped you. It can’t have been fun, and you guys are right, you went through a traumatic experience, but Amy is not to blame for her dad being a dick. She did do something shitty when she gave up Jessica and Ashley, and the reason behind that is why we’re all here rather than on the way to our contract with DJ Khaled in LA or whatever, so -“ 

The group leader lets out a short breath of frustration as she takes her white wine from Esther. 

  “Just chill out!” 

Beca downs half her glass in two gulps. 

  “Whew, that’s the stuff. Right. Jessica and Ashley, without you guys we would sound terrible. Ashley, your beatboxing and rhythm support are the backbone of our songs, and we couldn’t have gone as far as we did without you. Jessica, you hit the highest notes out of all of us, and you carried Amy’s voice to new heights too in I Don’t Like It. You and Chloe also make a great vocal team, and you should really take your singing further.”

Jessica smiles shyly. “Actually, I’ve been the lead Glinda in this year’s Wicked run at The Fox,” she says. Ashley squeezes her hands and kisses her forehead.

  “She’s incredible,” she tells the group proudly. 

  “Really? Wow, congrats dude!” Beca grins, looking slightly taken aback. “I didn’t know you were into musicals.”

  “Yeah, I was in the Musicals Society in freshman year but Bellas rehearsals overwhelmed my social schedule, so I dropped out. I’ve always loved them though.”

  “I had no idea,” Chloe says, her baby blue eyes unhappy.

  “That’s why I was so upset when Aubrey said it was like Ash and I hadn’t been there the whole year,” Jess tells her. “I’d sacrificed something I loved so that I could be there the whole year - I never missed a rehearsal.”

  “I’m sorry,” Aubrey says, and Ashley can tell by the look in her eyes that she is being honest. “I pushed you all so hard, and it wasn’t fair. Beca’s right; you two contribute so much and we just take you for granted. I mean, what about that time you collected me from the airport for the Bella reunion - I spent the drive criticising your gear changes and just threw my luggage at you at the other end! I didn’t even thank you!”

 _That was literally three weeks ago_ , Ashley thinks sourly, but she doesn’t press the issue.

  “Here’s an idea,” Beca says. “Why don’t we all take our turn and apologise. It’ll be like the end of our first year all over again.”

  “Oh no, guys, you really don’t have -“ Jess begins, but Amy cuts across her.

  “I’m sorry for implying I didn’t care if you two got murdered,” she announces. “I do care. I need my backup dancers - wait, I don’t really, because my dance moves are so amazing that I don’t need support. But you guys are the Mystery Machine to my Daphne, and Aubrey’s Fred, and Beca’s Velma, and Flo’s Shaggy, and Emily’s Scooby Doo, and we couldn’t do anything without you. Even a hostage situation.”

  “Ok... thank you, Amy,” Beca says slowly as Emily glares at the Aussie. “Cynthia-Rose, why don’t you go?”

Cynthia-Rose gets to her feet, her hands clasped in front of her as she shifts her weight from foot to foot. 

  “I apologise for not looking out for you guys,” she tells them. “You’ve been my friends for years and I didn’t even realise you were dating. I coulda got on that!”

Ashley laughs softly. “I’m afraid I’ve only had eyes for this one since initiation,” she confesses. “I don’t think that will change any time soon.”

Jess rests her head on Ashley’s shoulder. In turn, the latter leans against her and tucks an arm around her waist. Cynthia-Rose smiles back. 

  “You two are adorable, that’s for sure.”

Emily is next to get to her feet. 

  “You guys, I am so sorry that we’ve made you feel like outsiders in the group, especially since you went out of your way to make sure that I didn’t when I joined. Jessica, you helped me settle into the house, and Ashley, you’re the best dancing partner a girl could wish for. We kill it in the tall girl row!”

  “Yeah, we do,” Ashley says. Jess smiles at the younger girl over her shoulder. 

  “We’re proud of you, Legacy,” she tells her. “The new Bellas are aca-amazing under your leadership.”

  “See, this is what the Bellas are about!” Chloe exclaims. “Female friendship and unconditional support. And singing, obviously. We should have supported you more. I feel horrible that I just gave you up to Amy’s dad like that. I was trying to save myself, and that was selfish.”

  “Agreed,” Flo nods. “You are all like the sisters I never met because my father disappeared before I could meet them. I’m sorry to Jessica and Ashley. Being left behind like my father did to me is a terrible feeling.”

  “You know, you all seem like really nice people,” Esther pipes up. “I wish I could get to know you guys. Ashley, what do you do outside the group?”

Ashley is briefly stunned by the question. None of them have ever asked before.

  “Well, I’m a researcher at CNN,” she tells them all. “Hopefully I’ll be a fully-fledged reporter soon.”

She receives a chorus of ‘wows’ and ‘I didn’t realise’ from the group. She takes another sip of her cocktail before speaking again.

  “You know, guys, I’m sorry it came to this; I shouldn’t have let myself get to that level of anger. I mean, I do genuinely love you Bellas! Jess, I’m sorry for dragging you into my storm. You’re perfect and wonderful, and you didn’t derseve to deal with me like this. You have the voice of an angel, and a heart of gold and I love - I love you to death.”

Ashley chokes out a sob into her free hand. Jess squeezes her thigh and hugs her tightly.

  “You’re definitely the mom friend of the group,” she jokes. “Bringing Beca her coffee at 3am and Cynthia-Rose her water bottle every fifth week, looking after drunken mess Chloe, practically raising Emily...”

She is interrupted by a chorus of “that was _you_??”

Ashley can feel a blush spreading across her cheeks, and hurriedly wipes at her eyes.

  “Yes, that was all Ash,” Jess tells them all proudly. “She looked after you all for years! Those little treat bags on your pillows after competition stages, pulling blankets over Flo when she passed out after hard gym sessions, taking Stacey to the sexual health clinic for the umpteenth time, bringing you all milkshakes in bed when you were hungover...”

  “Wow, Ashley,” Beca says, reaching across the table to put her hand on hers and Jessica’s. “You guys really are the backbone of the group. I mean, I know I said that earlier, but wow...”

  “I just thought the house was haunted by a milkshake angel,” Esther says, shrugging. 

  “I mean, I did tiptoe round with my milkshake tray,” Ashley laughs. “No loud noises, y’know.”

Emily rises to her feet and hugs Jessica and Ashley tightly. 

  “Oh behalf of all of us, thank you for taking one for the team and looking after drunk Chloe,” she says with a grin. “I mean, I didn’t live with you guys for very long, but I’ve been in enough hotels and dorm rooms with you to know that we’re very grateful.”

  “You’re one to talk, Legacy!” Chloe retorts, but her tone is as fond as her smile. “You got so wasted at the Acapella Christmas party in your freshman year that the High Notes thought you were one of theirs!”

  “Are they still going?” Aubrey asks curiously. 

  “No, they pretty much all transferred to Illinois as soon as pot was legalised there,” Emily shrugs.

  “Wonder how the Pitch Slappers are coping,” Chloe laughs. “What about the BU Harmonics?”

  “They’re still around, but they never get to competition level.”

  “Wow, that takes me back,” Aubrey sighs. “Our first ICCAs seem so long ago now.”

They all sit there, basking in the nostalgia. Ashley looks around at the girls in her living room, thinking back on their journey across the last seven years. The bitterness that has tinged today seems to fade into a golden glow as a surge of emotion overcomes her. She squeezes Jess’ hand.

  “I got my ticket for the long way round,” she begins softly. 

  “Two bottles of whiskey for the way,” Jess joins in, their voices weaving together in the silence of the room. The other Bellas begin to join in too, filling the apartment with soft harmonies. 

Ashley can’t help but smile, comfortable in that closeness, her voice following the familiar lines without her even really needing to concentrate on them. 

  “You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone...” they finish, and silence reigns again for a minute.

  “You know what, I really am gonna miss you pitches,” Cynthia-Rose announces, but the moment is interrupted when the doorbell rings again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I forgot how hard it is to factor in multiple characters. Hopefully it wasn’t too rushed and all-over-the-place...


End file.
